The U.S. has gathered intelligence that shows some Russian officials have become concerned that Vladimir Putin’s forces in the ravaged port city of Mariupol are carrying out grievous abuses, a U.S official familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

The Russian officials are concerned that the abuses will backfire and further inspire Mariupol residents to resist the Russian occupation. The U.S. official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, said that the Russians, who were not identified, also feared that the abuses will undercut Russia’s claim that they’ve liberated the Russian-speaking city.

The abuses include beating and electrocuting city officials and robbing homes, according to the intelligence finding. No further details about the alleged abuses were disclosed, but such findings would be consistent with other accounts of Russian depravities exercised upon both the civilian and administrative populations of Mariupol.

The new intelligence has been declassified and was shared by a U.S. official as some of the last Ukrainian fighters in the devastated city emerged from the ruined Azovstal steelworks. The fighters were ordered by their military to abandon the last stronghold of resistance in the now-flattened port city and face an uncertain fate.

Russian Missiles Hit Mykolaiv 

Russian missiles hit the southern Ukrainian cities of Mykolaiv and Dnipro, Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelensky, said late on Wednesday in his nightly video address to his nation. There was no immediate word about casualties. 

Mr. Zelensky said Russia has already fired more than 2,000 missiles during its attack on Ukraine, a large part of its arsenal.

The Telegraph reported that Mr Zelensky said Ukraine was determined to restore its control over the southern cities of Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar, and Mariupol, which are all currently occupied by Russian troops.

On Thursday, Ukrinform reported that in the Donetsk region, Russian forces had launched another airstrike on the town of Bakhmut, hitting a five-story apartment block, a private house, and an administrative building. 

Russian Next-Gen Lasers Deployed, Mocked

Russia said it was using a new generation of powerful lasers in Ukraine to burn up drones, attempting to counter a flood of Western arms by deploying some of Moscow’s secret weapons, Reuters reported.

Vladimir Putin in 2018 unveiled an intercontinental ballistic missile, underwater nuclear drones, a supersonic weapon, and a laser weapon. Little is known about the specifics of the new laser. Mr. Putin mentioned one called Peresvet, named after a medieval Orthodox warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who perished in mortal combat.

The deputy prime minister in charge of military development, Yury Borisov, told a conference in Moscow that Peresvet was already being deployed widely and could blind satellites up to 932 miles above Earth.

“If Peresvet blinds, then the new generation of laser weapons lead to the physical destruction of the target — thermal destruction, they burn up,” he told Russian state television. Asked if such weapons were being used in Ukraine, he said: “Yes. The first prototypes are already being used there.”  

Mr. Zelenskiy derisively compared news of the lasers to the so-called wonder weapons that Nazi Germany unveiled in a bid to prevent defeat in World War II.

“The clearer it became that they had no chance in the war, the more propaganda there was about an amazing weapon that would be so powerful as to ensure a turning point,” he said via video. “And so we see that in the third month of a full-scale war, Russia is trying to find its ‘wonder weapon’ … this all clearly shows the complete failure of the mission.”

Mr. Putin has also deployed  BMPT “Terminator”-style tanks to the Donbas amid heated fighting in the eastern Ukrainian region, the Telegraph reported. The tanks each come equipped with four anti-tank missile launchers, two 30mm cannons, two grenade launchers, and a machine gun, all of which permit them to destroy targets ranging from tanks and infantry to helicopters and low-flying aircraft.

American Embassy Reopens at Kyiv

America’s embassy at Kyiv reopened yesterday, AP reported, and it will soon welcome our new ambassador to Ukraine. American diplomats evacuated Kyiv when the war began three months ago. Late Wednesday the Senate confirmed Bridget Brink as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, filling the post as officials plan to return American diplomats to Kyiv during the nation’s continuing battle against the Russian invasion.

The veteran foreign service officer, who has spent most of her career in the shadow of the former Soviet Union, was nominated to the position last month by President Biden. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate without a formal roll call vote.

The ambassador’s post has been vacant since President Trump fired Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, who recently penned a memoir, in 2019. She later became a key figure in the first impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump.